Thursday, July 17, 2008

Screwed Again.

Yep, like the 'green tax' on my car and probably your car, like everything else in this country of ours, they say, we pay.

"THOUSANDS of commuters will have to fork out up to €500 a year more just to get to work from September.

Commuters and shoppers will be left counting the cost after CIE confirmed controversial plans for new 'park and ride' charges at dozens of railway stations.

The semi-state company has signed a contract with a private parking control and clamping company to introduce 'pay and display' parking at 37 stations on the greater Dublin commuter network, the Irish Independent can reveal.

Commuters from as far away as Longford and Gorey will be hit with parking charges of €2 a day, where previously they could park for free.

Opposition TDs and transport lobby groups last night branded the new charges as "unacceptable".

Right? Are we following this> The government, bless 'em want us to use public transport, better for de environment, right? Better for de green house gasses, get us out of our cars and blah blah chee de rah... But NOW oh yes NOW they're going to charge you to park your bloody car WHILE you use Public transport.

The toll goes up on the M50 next week. We'll complain, but we'll pay. Same as my car tax, I'll whinge and I'll bitch about it here, but I'll pay.

Minishter Dempsey's been on the radio saying it's a good thing. His logic being that it'll still be cheaper than driving your car all that distance. He might have added that it's a way for IrishRail to increase revenue without having to put it on the ticket price - which would be factored into inflation statistics.

God help the long distance commuters. They bought at a high price, where they could just afford it far, far away. Fuel has gone through the roof. Maybe 20% is gone off the value of their house, the cost of going to work is going up, and redundancy may be on the cards.

I got a bill from Chorus NTL during the week. Apparently the cost of NOT going direct debit has gone up by 1 euro to 3 euro. How the fuck do they justify that one. They charge you 3 euro for making the transfer yourself?? Double Screwed again!

FMC - am I reading you correctly? 2 euros a DAY for parking? Where is this Eutopia? We pay this per hour for station parking. The supermarket car park at our local shopping centre charges £1.50 for the first hour and £1 per hour or any part of an hour thereafter. If I go into Central London on a weekday, I have to pay £8 congestions charge, plus approx £12 - 16 parking charges for a couple of hours in one of the local NCP car parks. You guys are lucky, lucky, lucky!

Medbh asks a really good question - who owns the parking lots? If some private firm is going to be making money at the public's expense that ought to be a reason for further independent scrutiny of this.

By and large I'm agin' being nickel and dimed, but Shebah is right. This is a tiny charge compared to any other country - and Medbh's question is a good one - who owns the parking lots? If Irish Rail do, they are entitled to charge. It's their parking lot. Why do we expect these facilities for free? Instead of griping over parking charges we should all be bitching about the entire system that forces us to live long distances from where we work - or if that isn't the case taking a long long at why we need to live far away from work, and dedicate large amounts of our time to commuting.Anyhow I'm betting that a look through the tax code will probably reveal that these charges are tax deductible. Any accountants out there?FMC as a self employed personage you most likely have an accountant, given said professional a bell...And for a final rant to Conans point - we should be paying for clean water, a rare and precious resource (yes I know water is plentiful in Ireland, but I'm talking about potable water). We might think thrice about wasting something that half the worlds population would go to war over.

Have just looked up Skangar on google - it says it is an Irish version of Chav. Har! Anonymous, don't know what you are on about - I have been shopping recently in the Square in Tallaght and thought it had some very good shops, some terrific hotels and the people were lovely - not a chav in sight - in fact mostly Scandinavians and East Europeans - and the Dublin accent is simply divine, very friendly and sexy.

About Me

I'm a bouncy, opinionated, messy haired marathon running (!) bibliophile. I wear high heels and have delightful ankles. I'm a devoted drinker. I want a French Bulldog puppy whom I shall call Batman and dress in capes on occasion.
I would also like a pug, whom I shall name Mister Woo. He can remain capeless, but I will make sure he wears a diamante collar at all times.
Both dogs will submit to repeated snorgling and high pitched squeals that only a dolphin would normally tolerate.
I hate Reiki/psychics/mystics/frauds with all my liver. Also, I'm firmly against Jazz and poetry/poems/pomes/ peoms or any of that stuff. I believe in the healing power of ginger.